News and Action

March 2, 2006

New and Renewing Membership Announcements

 We'll be starting a new policy of announcing those new and renewing members who give us permission to post their names in the News and Action reports. So, when you send in your renewal, please inform us if we have your permission. Thank you.

- Volunteers Needed for Earth Day and Upcoming Events

- Will Harlan Wins Again-and so does the Canary Coalition

- Big Turnout at "Kilowatt Ours" Screenings in WNC

- Clean Air Discussion Group Launched on Internet

- Canary Coalition Director Takes Aerial Tour of Mountaintop Removal Projects in West Virginia

- "Energy at the Crossroads Tour" Taking Shape

- PSD Bill of Disapproval Gains Support in Environmental Community

- Membership Renewal Reminder

Membership Meeting, Wednesday, March 15, 7pm in Asheville

The next CC membership meeting will be Wednesday, March 15, 7 PM at the home of Ted Campbell, 195 Rockhold Drive, in Asheville.

Agenda items will include:

-Energy at the Crossroads Tour update

-2006 legislative strategy session

-2006 Relay for Clean Air/AirAid planning

-Earth Day planning

-Fundraising strategy session

Directions to meeting:

240 to Charlotte St exit (exit 5B)
Turn right on Charlotte Street a few blocks to College Street

Turn left on College, go about two blocks and turn left on Town Mt Rd (aka Hwy 694)
3.2 miles to left onto Rockhold Dr #2 (the SECOND Rockhold Dr)
first house on right, #195.

Food and Drink

Volunteers Needed for Earth Day and Upcoming Events

Spring is almost here(!) and with it comes Earth Day and a parade of outdoor festivals that provide an opportunity for tabling and interaction with the public and media. So, we are developing our volunteer corps to help with the outreach program. If you'd like to help in this way, please contact our office to be scheduled. There are also volunteer opportunities to work in the office or in your home doing various clerical tasks. In Jackson County, NC 828-631-3447; elsewhere, toll free 866-4CANARY (866-422-6279), or email.

Will Harlan Wins Again

and so does the Canary Coalition

For the fourth time, ultra-runner and Canary Coalition Board member Will Harlan has won the nationally prestigious 40-mile Mount Mitchell Challenge. Congratulations Will! Whenever Will runs he wears a yellow shirt with a big Canary Coalition logo in the front, and it appeared prominently on the front page of the sports section of last Sunday's Asheville Citizen Times.  View the story and picture.  The story was also covered on TV.

From an article appearing in the Citizen-Times on Thursday, Feb. 23:

"Every year I run it to remind people of air quality because Mount Mitchell is such a symbol of air pollution and also a symbol of our region," said Harlan, who runs each year for the Canary Coalition, a clean air group. "It's the pinnacle of these mountains yet it's devastating when you go out there and see the skeletons of dead trees and firs hanging like crucifixes ... I really emphasize the air quality when I run."

When he's not running Will is editor of Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine.

Big Turnout at "Kilowatt Ours" Screenings in WNC

Film-maker Jeff Barrie touring western North Carolina last week screened his documentary "Kilowatt Ours" in four locations. Large audiences turned out in Asheville, Cullowhee and Flat Rock to view the film that documents environmental damage from power production with vivid footage of mountaintop removal projects, coal and uranium mining operations and smokestacks pollution. The film also addresses the solutions of energy conservation and efficiency and the use renewable energy technologies.  The DVD is available online for a donation.

Thanks to Canary Coalition member Tom Alba and Mountain Area Information Network we now have a Clean Air discussion group online.  Join the discussion by signing up for the listserve!

Canary Coalition Director Takes Aerial Tour of Mountaintop Removal Projects in West Virginia

"On February 7, I boarded a small Cessna one-engine plane provided by South Wings, with Harvard Ayers and Benji Burrell of Appalachian Voices and the pilot. We flew to south-central West Virginia to view the mountaintop removal projects that have been unleashed on that landscape. It was a moving and devastating experience to witness the consequences of our energy use.  For those who believe there are safe and non-polluting ways to continue to use coal for producing energy, the reality is clear:  There is no such thing as 'clean coal.' "

Avram Friedman

Avram is in the process of writing a complete report on this field trip and on the energy options for the future in preparation for the Energy at the Crossroads Tour that will begin at the end of March.

"Energy at the Crossroads Tour" Taking Shape

Nuclear Information Resource Service (NIRS) and the Canary Coalition have been organizing an eight-state tour to promote the NC Energy Future Resolution, a moratorium on the construction of new coal and nuclear plants throughout the southeast. The tour is being designed to create public awareness that utility companies have been applying for permits to construct new power plants based on computer models that project an increase in energy demand in years to come.  Our message will be that conservation, energy efficiency and renewable technologies can greatly reduce energy demand and eliminate the need for new generating sources.  Safe, clean, renewable technologies, especially large-scale wind energy are much less expensive when all costs are calculated including health and environmental impacts.

The Energy at the Crossroads Tour will begin in Asheville, NC with a kick-off press conference at City Hall on Tuesday, March 28, 11am, followed by a public awareness event at the Owen Conference Hall on the UNCA campus on Thursday, March 30, 7pm.

The NC Energy Future Resolution can be viewed here.

Stay tuned for more details.

PSD Bill of Disapproval 

Gains Support in Environmental Community

In April of last year, by submitting over 80 letters of objection to the Rules Review Commission, Canary Coalition members temporarily blocked the implementation of North Carolina's PSD/NSR rule changes that would have eased the way for older smokestacks industries to maintain their emission control exemptions despite renovating, modernizing or expanding their operations. But, unless a Bill of Disapproval is passed by both Houses of the NC General Assembly in the 2006 session, the new rules will come into effect.  

The initiative has picked up important support from other members of the environmental community in recent weeks. The Asheville-based Clean Air Community Trust and the prominent national organization NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) have signed onto a letter to NC state legislators advising the passage of a Disapproval Bill. These organizations join the Canary Coalition, the Western North Carolina Alliance, Clean Water for NC, Carolinas Clean Air Coalition and Caring for Creation in this effort.

We are negotiating with several state legislators, including members of the leadership in both Houses, to find co-sponsors and support for the bill. 

When the bill gets marked up, there will be a call for letter writing and phone calls to state legislators.  We may organize a lobby day for this purpose, as well.

Read the letter to legislators.

Membership Renewal Reminder

If you have not already done so, please renew your annual membership with the CanaryCoalition and help keep the database updated with your most recent contact information. There is no annual membership fee, although all donations are gratefully accepted (and very much needed). All new and renewing members receive the interactive membership computer CD. The membership CD is a powerful tool that aids its owner in being a clean-air activist. It contains a 15-minute PowerPoint presentation about air quality issues and the Canary Coalition that can be shown to friends, groups, classrooms, etc. Also on the membership CD is a library of documents containing information about important air quality issues. There are also graphics for iron-on applications, printable membership forms and a link to the Canary Coalition website. For donations of $35 or more tee-shirts are available upon request.

Send contact information and donations to:

The Canary Coalition

PO Box 653

Sylva, NC 28779

or you can donate online